A former career bureaucrat, Dr Amar Patnaik is currently a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha from Odisha representing the Biju Janata Dal. He is the recipient of the Sansad Ratna Award 2022. A PhD in institutional economics, he is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Consultative Committee on Forest, Environment and Climate Change, and Joint Committee on Biological Diversity. He is also a member of the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings. He regularly writes on issues relating to economics, finance, technology, data privacy, and the environment.